For Business

Dorchester County New Beulah Landfill

Landfill Gas Capture

Project Details

Project type : Landfill Gas CaptureWhat they do : Gas from the garbage decomposing at the landfill is collected and destroyed in a flare instead of being released into the atmosphere.Where they are : Dorchester County, MarylandPortfolio Year : 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012Standard : Climate Action Reserve (California Climate Action Registry)Verifier : First Environment

About the Project

New Beulah Landfill is an active municipal landfill located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, near the Chesapeake Bay. It began accepting waste in 1996 and is currently comprised of five landfill “cells.” The gas collection system is designed to grow with the landfill in anticipation of generating enough gas to someday install a generator to create renewable power. In the meantime, the project destroys methane in an enclosed flare, and carbon offsets are the project’s only source of revenue.

In the community

Environmental Co-benefits

Reduces non-carbon local air pollutants such as non-methane VOCs

Reduces risk of environmental hazards like underground gas migration

Community Impact

Creates revenue for a rural municipality

Creates employment in a rural area

Reduces odor in the surrounding area

New Beulah’s permitted capacity is smaller than the Clean Air Act’s threshold for Title V operating permits, so the landfill is not required to control its emissions. Similarly, no state or local regulations require the landfill to capture its methane. This project is unusual in that it uses carbon offset revenue to enable early construction of a gas control system at a landfill that may never be large enough to support electricity generation. We hope this project structure can be replicated elsewhere through this example.